The Railway Series
The Railway Series is a series of British children's books written by the Reverend Wilbert Awdry and later by his son, Christopher. The best known character in the series is Thomas the Tank Engine. The books were later adapted into a children's television series called, Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends, later renamed Thomas & Friends. History The Railway Series has origins that go back as far as when Wilbert Awdry was a child. On the Great Western Railway, he would listen to nearby steam engines struggling up a steep hill and imagined the sounds they were making as conversations. During World War II in 1943, Awdry's 3-year-old son was sick with measles. Wilbert decided to cheer him up by telling stories of talking engines named Edward, Gordon and Henry. Christopher wanted the stories to be told consistently each time they were told, so Wilbert wrote them down. He was initially not interested in getting his stories published his stories until his family persuaded him into it. The Three Railway Engines, the first book in the series, was published in 1945. After that, Awdry would write a new title nearly every year. Six different illustrators have worked on the series, William Middleton, Reginald Payne, C. Reginald Dalby, John T. Kenney and Gunvor and Peter Edwards. Railwaymen praised the books for their realism and read them to their children or grandchildren. Most of the stories were based on real events that took place on real railways. Awdry retired from writing in 1972 and his son, Christopher would continue the series, starting with Really Useful Engines in 1983, in which the title was inspired by a story he was told by an engineman from the Nene Valley Railway. Kaye & Ward, eager to release new material to coincide with the upcoming television series, accepted the new book. Christopher put out new stores consistently until the late 1990s with Clive Spong as the illustrator. Despite the television series' popularity, Christopher did not write any new titles during the early 2000s. However, in 2007, he was finally able to get Thomas and Victoria published. Four years later, in 2011, he published Thomas and his Friends to coincide with his father's one-hundredth birthday. Unlike any of the other books in the series, Thomas and his Friends had "The End" written at the end. Alf Fortnam, widower of the late Hilary Fortnam, has said that the premiere of Tale of the Brave in 2014 that Christopher had finished writing the series. Books Written by Wilbert Awdry # The Three Railway Engines # Thomas the Tank Engine # James the Red Engine # Tank Engine Thomas Again # Troublesome Engines # Henry the Green Engine # Toby the Tram Engine # Gordon the Big Engine # Edward the Blue Engine # Four Little Engines # Percy the Small Engine # The Eight Famous Engines # Duck and the Diesel Engine # The Little Old Engine # The Twin Engines # Branch Line Engines # Gallant Old Engine # Stepney the "Bluebell" Engine # Mountain Engines # Very Old Engines # Main Line Engines # Small Railway Engines # Enterprising Engines # Oliver the Western Engine # Duke the Lost Engine # Tramway Engines Written by Christopher Awdry # Really Useful Engines # James and the Diesel Engines # Great Little Engines # More About Thomas the Tank Engine # Gordon the High-Speed Engine # Toby, Trucks and Trouble # Thomas and the Twins # Jock the New Engine # Thomas and the Great Railway Show # Thomas Comes Home # Henry and the Express # Wilbert the Forest Engine # Thomas and the Fat Controller's Engines # New Little Engine # Thomas and Victoria # Thomas and his Friends External links *Quotations from and about The Railway Series on Wikiquote. *''This article uses creative content from the page The Railway Series on the Thomas the Tank Engine Wikia.'' Category:Childrens Books Category:Series Category:Fantasy Category:Famous